The Trees

‘Gruesome, spooky, hysterical and unapologetic—an absolute tour de force by a writer who needs to be heard.’ * ABC *

‘Everett has mastered the movement between unspeakable terror and knockout comedy.’

* New York Times Book Review *

‘[The Trees] blends Everett’s wit with elegy and solemnity.’

* Boston Globe *

‘With a highwire combination of whodunnit, horror, humor and razor-blade-sharp insight, The Trees is a fitting tribute of a novel: hard to put down and impossible to forget.’

* NPR *

‘The Trees is a wild book: a gory pulp revenge fantasy and a detective narrative…[It] is just as blood-soaked and just as hilarious as Inglourious Basterds or Django Unchained, but it comes with more authentic historical weight for being set in a dreamlike counterpresent.’

* Bookforum *
‘Based in real history…Everett’s motivation for writing the novel becomes clear [as] a reminder that America’s history isn’t just history [and] ridicules the idea that America can be separated from its history of racism…Very punchy, very funny.’ * RNZ: Nine to Noon *
‘This book is explosive in every way! An absurdist play on murder mystery and ghost stories where the crime scene is history itself, the story culminates in a modern day reckoning with America’s racist past and present. The surprise is that it is also laugh-out-loud funny.’ * Dua Lipa *
‘Percival Everett approaches genre like a veteran card shark does poker: methodically patient, rarely playing the same hand twice. His books—30 and counting—are full of ambition and mystery, each one of them sustained by a sense of existential wonder.’ * Wired *
‘The Trees is a strange genre mash but one with a serious and disturbing point to make…While the narrative is often wild, irreverent and comical, Everett pauses to remember [lynching victims] and the places where they suffered…Often laugh out loud funny, [and] also deeply contemplative and powerful.’ * Pile by the Bed *
‘This mordantly funny, twisted police procedural is both knockabout and deadly serious; a Booker-shortlisted page-turner that aims to make its reader stop short…Taking direct aim at America’s collective amnesia, this scabrous, rumbustious satire should appeal to fans of Carl Hiaasen and Colson Whitehead, but is boldly original.’ * Sunday Times *
‘[The Trees] is such a sharp book you could cut yourself on it. Violent, funny and smart.’ * Fairfield Books *
‘Everett does not pull punches…Novels such as [The Trees] are vital. Shining a light, raising awareness, revealing the darkness of the past…A brilliant novel with a powerful message.’ * Good Reading *
‘Radical invention characterises Percival Everett’s devastatingly absurdist The Trees…It weaponises the genres of horror, comedy and detective fiction to lay open the history of lynching.’ * Guardian (UK) *
‘Incredible…A very clever book that I could not put down!’ * Readings *
‘A bitingly funny, boldly satirical, deadly serious tale of racism and the legacy of injustice.’ * Economist *
‘Deftly combining humour and horror, [The Trees] by LA author Percival Everett offers a page-turner of a story alongside a thought-provoking satire about racism, past and present.’ * West Australian *
‘Excellent.’ * SA Weekend *